Syria regime pounds northeast Kurdish positions for second day
Syrian regime warplanes bombarded the northeastern city of Hasakeh for the second day on Friday, targeting positions held by Kurdish forces, a monitor and a journalist in the city said.
The journalist said eight air strikes could be heard throughout the day on Friday, mostly focused in the city's southwestern neighbourhoods.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights -- which monitors the conflict and determines what planes carry out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved -- said the strikes were conducted by regime jets.
Most of Hasakeh city, the capital of the northeastern province by the same name, is controlled by Kurdish forces, while the rest is held by fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
Since Wednesday, clashes between the two forces have rocked the city, leaving 22 civilians -- including nine children -- five Kurdish fighters and four regime forces dead, according the Observatory.
Thursday's government raids on Hasakeh were the first time the regime aerially bombarded Kurdish positions.
The two sides share a common enemy in the Islamic State jihadist group which controls most of the Euphrates valley to the south but there have been tensions between them in Hasakeh that have sometimes led to armed clashes.
The Kurds, who control much of northeastern and northern Syria along the Turkish border where they have proclaimed an autonomous Kurdish region, recently demanded that the pro-government National Defence Forces disband in Hasakeh.
A government source in the city told AFP that the air strikes were "a message to the Kurds that they should stop this sort of demand that constitutes an affront to national sovereignty."
The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) are a key US ally in the fight against IS.
Washington regards them as the most effective fighting force on the ground in Syria and has provided weapons and special forces military advisers.
More than 290,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011.